Essex Freemasons pledge support for hospitals and care homes across the county

Essex Freemasons have mobilised its 9,000 members from across the county to join the fight against Covid-19 with a major new campaign aimed at providing essential equipment for local hospital and care home staff

Some £20,000 has been allocated immediately by the Essex Freemasons Community Fund to purchase thousands of vitally needed PPE visors. These will be available in the next seven days and distributed to hospitals and care homes in every part of the County. A further £100,000 has been allocated to Freemasons in the East region by the Masonic Charitable Foundation, the Freemason’s own charity, which will be focussed on areas of greatest need.

In a third initiative the Essex Cornerstone Club, which represent some 200 young Masons across Essex, has launched a separate appeal to help support a desperate plea from NHS Doctors and Nurses for any old but working electronic tablets / iPads. Due to the Covid-19 crisis patients are not allowed to receive visitors in hospital.

This initiative will give patients, many who are elderly and frail and do not have access to smart devices and who may be nearing the end of their life, the opportunity to speak to family and loved ones via video calls. The devices, regardless of age, need to be wiped clean of data, in working order and able to hold a charge and be able to run FaceTime/ Skype or video calls. Anyone wishing to donate their old electronic tablets are asked to click here to know more.

Paul Reeves, Deputy Provincial Grand Master for Essex Freemasons, commented: 'It is clear that there is a massive shortage of vital equipment and I am delighted that we have been able to respond immediately to support our hospitals and care homes. We have been in contact with suppliers and are assured we will receive visors within seven days. These will be distributed via or network of Freemason volunteers, many of whom already provide TLC Teddy Bears for traumatised children in A&E units – so we are ready to go.'

Every effort will be made to ensure that vital equipment reaches the right people as quickly as possible and Essex Masons want the visors to reach those in greatest need first. If your care home or hospital ward have a need please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the name of your unit and contact details of the person to contact there.